The next four years of education research in the US

# The next four years<br>of (computing) education research<br>in the US

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# History of futures of education research

- Follow the money
  - NSF Dear Colleague letters
- Paradigm-building projects.cite[1]
- Technological

- NSF 
  - Ten Big Ideas
- PCAST
- Policy papers

.refs[.anchor[1] Kuhn, *The Structure of Scientific Revolutions*]

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# Why?

- Staying safe
- Understanding changing paradigms of academic discourse
  - Scholarly identity and agency: Showing up and getting heard
- Academic jobs
- Grant funding

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# Political orders.cite[1]

> A political order is a way of thinking differently about political time in America,
> something that lasts beyond political elections, that refers to the ability of one political party to arrange a constellation of policies, constituencies, think tanks, candidates, individuals who come to dominate politics for extended periods of time. And their dominance becomes so strong that the opposition party feels compelled — if they still want to remain real players in American politics — it compels them to acquiesce and to come aboard the other political party’s platform.

- New Deal order
- Neoliberal order
- What's next?

.refs[.anchor[1] Ezra Klein show with Gary Gerstle, 2024-11-01]

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# How fascism works

1. Mythologize the past
2. Propaganda: universally acceptable ideas
3. Anti-intellectualism: empiricism, expertise.
4. Destroy shared reality. 
5. Reinforce "natural" hierarchies. 
6. Us vs them. Victimhood.
7. Law and order. Sow chaos, promise order.
8. Exploit sexual anxieties. Queerness, sexual violence.
9. Exploit urban-rural divides.
10. Narrow definitions of humanity, worthiness, legitimacy.

.refs[Stanley, *How Fascism Works*, 2020]
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# Project 2025 proposals

A few snippets presented by Dr. Michael Nyman, Buffalo State, on this morning's *What's Next*?

- Eliminate the department of education
  - End programs that promote inclusion and address disparities.
- "Redefine the word sex to refer to a fixed biological fact"
- A list of words and terms to be removed from law and federal policy: "sexual identification, gender identity, diversity, equity, inclusion, gender equiality, gender awareness, reproductive health, reproductive rights."
- White privilege, intersectionality. Rainbow flags. Black Lives Matter flags. 
- "Rescind regulations prohibiting discrimination on the basis of..."
- Cut funding for schools teaching CRT, ... Credentialing body to certify teachers embracing patriotic values. Purge "zealots"
- End civil service protections

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# How these changes would affect education research

- Reshaping of education institutions.
- Reduced funding, changing funding priorities
- Resistance to education research focused outside of the US
- NSF employees lose civil service protections
- Chilling effect on constructs, foci
- Further fracturing of education policy into states
- Further militarization of comptuing education